Steam vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A steam vacuum cleaner. The steam vacuum cleaner includes a suction port assembly comprising a dust receptacle formed therein and an impeller driven by a motor to draw in air and dust from an object being cleaned through a suction port formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and to discharge the suctioned air and dust into the dust receptacle, a main body comprising a water tank and a heater unit to receive water from the water tank and generate steam, wherein a lower portion of the main body is hinged to a portion of the suction port assembly, and a floorcloth plate formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and comprising at least one floorcloth attached thereto.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0091234, filed Sep. 7, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a steam vacuum cleaner having vacuum cleaning and steam cleaning functions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A steam vacuum cleaner having both vacuum cleaning and steam cleaning functions is available. This type of vacuum cleaner can vacuum an object being cleaned while concurrently ejecting steam onto the object so as to remove contaminants from the object being cleaned more efficiently.

Conventional general steam vacuum cleaners can use a level of power which is generally 2000 Watts (W) at the maximum. Therefore, it is necessary to employ high voltage components, including high voltage lines, for these vacuum cleaners to use more than 2000 W of power, which increases the cost of the cleaner.

Conventional general steam vacuum cleaners include a suction motor which consumes approximately 1300 W of power, and a small-sized heater unit that consumes approximately 700 W of power for steam cleaning. Therefore, the performance of a conventional steam vacuum cleaners is not comparable to the performance of a steam-only cleaner, which consumes approximately 1200 W of power and employs a large-sized high-capacity heater unit having, for example, approximately 800 cc of capacity.

A small-sized heater unit also has the drawback that components, such as ejection nozzles, are frequently blocked and become incapable of operating when a coating of scale and hard incrustations grows inside the heater unit due to the gathering of deposits of substances such as calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below, a non-limiting object of the present invention is to provide a steam vacuum cleaner that consumes less power than a conventional vacuum cleaner, but provides improved steam cleaning performance, wherein the steam vacuum cleaner includes a suction port assembly comprising a dust receptacle formed therein and an impeller driven by a motor to draw in air and dust from an object being cleaned through a suction port formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and to discharge the suctioned air and dust into the dust receptacle, a main body comprising a water tank and a heater unit to receive water from the water tank and generate steam and wherein a lower portion of the main body is hinged to a portion of the suction port assembly, and a floorcloth plate formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and comprising at least one floorcloth attached thereto.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a steam vacuum cleaner that includes a heater unit that consumes from about 1200 W to about 1900 W of power and motor that consumes from about 80 W to about 100 W of power. The heater unit may be a large-capacity unit that holds from about 700 cc to about 900 cc of water therein. The motor may be an AC motor.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a steam vacuum cleaner that includes an impeller formed on a passage between the suction port and the dust receptacle. The passage may include a first passage in which a first end is formed adjacent to the suction port and a second end opposite to the first end is formed adjacent to the impeller, an impeller casing part to surround the impeller, the impeller casing part being in fluid communication with the second end of the first passage, and a second passage in which a first end is in fluid communication with the impeller casing part and a second end opposite to the first end is in fluid communication with the dust receptacle.

The steam vacuum cleaner may further include a drum brush rotatably disposed in the suction port, to receive a driving force of the motor and move the dust of the object being cleaned to the first end of the first passage.

The steam vacuum cleaner may further include a partition member engaged with a lower portion of the suction port assembly to divide a space defined between the lower portion of the suction port assembly and the surface being cleaned into a vacuum cleaning area and a steam cleaning area so that dust being drawn in through the suction port is not mixed with the steam being emitted from a lower rear portion of the suction port assembly.

The steam vacuum cleaner may further include a rotating unit arranged inside the suction port assembly to rotate the floorcloth plate.

The steam vacuum cleaner may further include an operating handle comprising a stick part to be slid into the main body or slid out of the main body along the length direction of the main body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 is a front perspective view of a steam vacuum cleaner according to a non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the steam vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of a suction port assembly from which an upper cover illustrated in FIG. 1 is removed;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the suction port assembly illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an impeller illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of one embodiment of the impeller illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the impeller illustrated FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a bottom perspective view of the suction port assembly illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a bottom perspective view illustrating a stationary floorcloth plate applied to the suction port assembly;

FIG. 10 is a front perspective view illustrating one embodiment of an interior of the ma in body of the steam vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating another embodiment of an interior of the ma in body of the steam vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 illustrates contaminants being drawn from an object being cleaned into the suction port assembly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4; and

FIG. 13 is a partially enlarged sectional view illustrating the operation of a screening member attached to the bottom of the suction port assembly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to non-limiting embodiments of the present invention by way of reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, components and structures.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a steam vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a suction port assembly 100, a main body 200, a stick part 301, and a handle 303. The suction port assembly 100 may be hinged with respect to the main body 200 for ease of operation by a user. Accordingly, the user may grip the handle 303 and tilt the main body 200 backward relative to the suction port assembly 100 while operating the vacuum cleaner.

The suction port assembly 100 may include an upper casing 110, a lower casing 120, a drum brush 125 (FIGS. 3 and 4), a motor 130 (FIGS. 3 and 4), an impeller 135 (FIGS. 3 and 4), a dust receptacle 150, a rotating unit 160 (FIGS. 3 and 4), and a pair of floorcloth plates 161 a and 161 b.

The upper casing 110 may include a hinge part 111 engaged with a hinge axis 202 (FIG. 10) formed on a lower rear portion of the main body 200, and a hole 113 formed to receive the dust receptacle 150. Removably attached to the upper casing 110 is a translucent cover 101 to allow a user to view a drum brush 125 (FIGS. 3 and 4) rotating inside the suction port assembly 100. Because a user can check whether the drum brush 125 is rotating or not during a cleaning operation through the translucent cover 101, the user can immediately attend to any problem occurring with the drum brush 125, such as non-rotation of the drum brush 125 due to a foreign substance clogging the suction port 123. As a result, problems such as motor overload can be avoided.

The lower casing 120 may be detachably engaged with the lower portion of the upper casing 110 so as to define a space in cooperation with the upper casing 110 for protecting the elements housed therein, such as the drum brush 125, the motor 130 and the impeller 135. Referring to FIG. 3, the lower casing 120 includes the suction port 123 extending widthwise along the lower front side to draw in dust and air from an object being cleaned. The drum brush 125 is rotatably disposed within the suction port 123. The outer circumference of the drum brush 125 is engaged with a plurality of cleaning ribs 126 made of soft material.

The lower casing 120 includes passages 143, 144 and 145 formed therein for directing dust entering through the suction port 123 to flow to the dust receptacle 150. The passages 143, 144 and 145 include a first passage 143, an impeller casing 144, and a second passage 145. The first passage 143 includes an inlet 141 formed at a first end formed adjacent to the suction port 123. A second end of the first passage 143, which is opposite to the inlet 141, is in fluid communication with the impeller casing 144. A first end of the second passage 145 is in fluid communication with the impeller casing 144, and a second end of the second passage 145 opposite to the first end is in fluid communication with a dust inlet 153 of the dust receptacle 150. The impeller casing 144 has an inner diameter larger than an outer diameter of the impeller 135 to allow the impeller 135 housed therein to rotate. Accordingly, dust entering the inlet 141 passes the first passage 143, the impeller casing 144 and the second passage in sequence, before being collected in the dust receptacle 150.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the lower casing 120 also includes a plurality of front dust moving channels 121 and a partition rib 180. The front dust moving channels are formed in the lower casing 120 to allow dust in front of the suction port assembly to be drawn in and moved to the inlet 141 via suction port 123. The partition rib 180 is formed to divide the lower space of the lower casing 120 where the suction port 123 is formed into a vacuum cleaning area on one side of the partition rib 180 and a steam cleaning area on the other side of the partition rib 180. The floorcloths 163 a and 163 b are arranged at the steam cleaning area. The partition rib 180 extends alongside the suction port 123 at the back of the suction port 123.

Referring to FIG. 13, the lower portion of the partition rib 180 contacts the object being cleaned to prevent dust suctioned through the suction port 123 from mixing with the steam, or being moistened by the steam and sticking to the object being cleaned. A steam ejecting hole (not illustrated) is formed in a lower rear portion of the lower casing 120 to eject the steam.

The motor 130 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention consumes approximately 80 W to 100 W of power, which is significantly less than a conventional suction motor of a vacuum cleaner that consumes approximately 700 W to 800 W of power. The heater unit 240 uses AC power, and it is desirable that the motor 130 also uses AC power. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the motor 130 includes a driving shaft 131 engaged with the center of rotation of the impeller 135 to drive the impeller 135. The driving shaft 131 maintains a parallel relationship with the drum brush 125 when the motor 130 is mounted in the lower casing 120 so that the driving force of the motor 130 can be directly transmitted to the drum brush 125 via a driving belt 133. A driving force transmitting means (not illustrated) may be formed on one end of the driving shaft 131 of the motor 130 to transmit the driving force to the rotating unit 160. Thus, according to the rotation of the driving shaft 131, the motor 130 transmits driving force to the drum brush 125, the impeller 135 and the rotating unit 160 concurrently.

Referring to FIG. 5, the impeller 135 has a suction hole 136 formed at the center of the one end closer to the first passage 143 to guide the dust and air exiting the first passage 143 and entering the impeller 135. The impeller 135 also includes a pair of blades 137 a and 137 b formed in a symmetrical manner with respect to the center of rotation of the impeller 135. The blades 137 a and 137 b are formed to have a predetermined radius of curvature. The ends of the blades 137 a and 137 b are distanced from each other so as to create a pair of discharge openings 139 a and 139 b therebetween. Accordingly, dust is suctioned through the suction hole 136 and discharged through the discharge holes 139 a and 139 b by the impeller 135 using centrifugal force. The discharged air passes through the second passage 145 and enter the dust receptacle 150. The impeller 135 may have unlimited number of blades 137 a and 137 b. Referring to the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the impeller 175 may include four blades 177 a, 177 b, 177 c and 177 d to further enhance flow rate of the discharged dust-entrained air. Corresponding discharge openings 179 a, 179 b, 179 c and 179 d are formed between the blades 177 a, 177 b, 177 c and 177 d.

At least the upper portion of the dust receptacle 150 is made out of translucent material. The translucent upper portion of the dust receptacle 150 is visible to the outside of the suction port assembly 100 when the dust receptacle 150 is seated in the hole 113 of the upper casing 110 to allow a user to look inside the dust receptacle 150 and check the amount of dust collected therein. The dust receptacle 150 may include a handle portion 151 disposed at the top thereof so a user may grip and remove the dust receptacle 150 from the suction port assembly 100 to empty the dust receptacle 150 of dust and debris. The dust receptacle 150 may also include a discharge part 155 (FIG. 2) to discharge the dust and air outside of the suction port assembly 100. The discharge part 155 may include a filter (not illustrated) to filter minute dust from the air being discharged out of the dust receptacle 150.

The rotating unit 160 is arranged on the lower casing 120 and at the back of the motor 130. The rotating unit 160 includes a plurality of worm gears (not illustrated) and bevel gears (not illustrated). The rotating unit 160 receives driving force from the motor 130 to rotate the pair of circular floorcloth plates 161 a and 161 b attached to the lower portion of the lower casing 120. The pair of floorcloth plates 161 a and 161 b may include VELCRO tapes (not illustrated) disposed on the lower portions to be attached to or detached from the floorcloths 163 a and 163 b.

The floorcloths 163 a and 163 b may be stationary instead of being rotatable. Referring to FIG. 9, a combination of a floorcloth plate 430, which is detachably attached to the rear portion of the partition rib 480 on the lower portion of the lower casing 420, and a rectangular floorcloth 440, which is detachably attached to the lower portion of the floorcloth plate 430, may be employed. The floorcloth plate 430 includes a plurality of spaced holes 431 a, 43 lb, 431 c and 431 d formed on the upper portion to be snap-engaged with a plurality of protrusions 427 a, 427 b, 427 c and 427 d formed on a part of the lower portion of the lower casing 420 where the floorcloth plate 430 is installed.

The floorcloth plate 430 also includes an elongated hole 433 to allow streams of steam, which are emitted out of a plurality of steam holes 426 formed on the lower casing 420, to hit the object being cleaned without being obstructed by the floorcloth plate 430. The floorcloth plate 430 may include a foot-operating pedal 435 extending from the rear portion so that a user can step on the foot-operating pedal 435 and disengage the floorcloth plate 430 from the lower casing 420 with ease. When a stationary floorcloth 440 is employed, the rotating unit 160 is not necessary in the suction port assembly 400. The suction port assembly 400 also includes wheels 429 a and 429 b disposes at the back of the suction port assembly 400 that are configured to roll on the surface to be cleaned. The wheels help a user operate the cleaner with greater ease. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 410 denotes the upper casing and 425 denotes the drum brush the suction port assembly 400, which are substantially the same as those of the suction port assembly 100.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 10, the main body 200 includes a front cover 201. The front cover 201 includes an opening 207 formed on the upper portion to receive a removable water tank 210 therein, and a locking button 211 to lock the water tank 210 in place or release the water tank 210 from a locked state. The main body 200 also includes a carrier handle 203 extending forward from the main body 100 at an incline so a user can grip the carrier handle 203 and carry the cleaner. The main body 200 additionally includes a stick receiving part 205 extending along the length direction of the main body 200 in the rear portion so that the stick part 301 is slidable into or out of the stick receiving part 205, and a pair of wire winding projections 251 and 252 spaced vertically apart from each other so that electric wires (not illustrated) are windable there around.

A rear portion of the water tank 210 is inserted in the main body 200. The water tank 210 is removable through the opening 207. Elements such as pump 220, safety valve 230 and heater unit 240 are all housed in the main body 200. The water tank 210 is made out of a translucent material to allow a user to look inside the water tank 210 and check the water level through the front side of the water tank 210, which is visible to the outside of the main body 200.

The pump 220 receives water from the water tank 210 via an inlet port 221 and supplies a predetermined amount of water to the heater unit 240 through a water pipeline 231. A discharge pipe 233 in fluid communication with the main body 200 is formed on one side of the water pipeline 231. The safety valve 230 is installed on the discharge pipe 233 to prevent backflow of water back to the pump 220 when the water supply is obstructed due to pressure generated inside the heater unit 240. The discharge pipe 233 is used as a passage to discharge the water outside the main body 200.

Unlike other small-sized heater units generally employed in conventional steam cleaners, the heater unit 240 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention employs a sheath heater which consumes approximately 1200 W to 1900 W of power, and a large-sized heater unit 240 that holds approximately 700 cc to 900 cc of water. The motor 130 of the present invention consumes approximately 80 W to 100 W of power and the cleaner consumes maximum 1400 W of power. Accordingly, the steam vacuum cleaner according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention can save approximately 600 W of power as compared to a conventional steam vacuum cleaner that consumes approximately 2000 W of power. Because the heater unit 240 is sized to accommodate a large amount of water, the possibility of having scale or deposits clogging the steam emitting pipe 241 is greatly decreased due to an increased inner area of the heater unit 240 and corresponding larger steam emitting pipe 241.

Referring to FIG. 10, the main body 200 has a relatively slim shape because the pump 220 is arranged on the upper portion of the heater unit 240. However, many other alternatives are possible. For example, as shown in the main body 500 illustrated in FIG. 11, the pump 520 may be arranged on a side portion of the heater unit 540. In this embodiment, the height of the main body 500 is reduced and, therefore, the cleaner can be compact-sized. Both the main bodies 500 and 200 illustrated respectively in FIGS. 11 and 10 have substantially the same construction, with an exception regarding the location of the pump 520. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 503 denotes the carrier handle, 521 is the inlet port, 530 is the safety valve, 531 is the water pipeline, 533 is the discharge pipe, 601 is the stick part, 603 is the operating handle, 605 is the operating button part, and 607 is the stick fixing part.

Referring to FIG. 10, the stick part 301 has a predetermined length, and can be withdrawn out of the stick receiving part 205 (FIG. 2) to meet the height of a user, or inserted therein. The stick fixing part 307 arranged on the upper portion of the stick receiving part 205 locks or unlocks the stick part 301.

The operating handle 303 is engaged with the upper portion of the stick part 301 for the grip of a user and includes an operating button part 305 having a plurality of buttons to turn on and off the motor 130 and the heater unit 240. The user may operate vacuum cleaning and steam cleaning concurrently or separately by manipulating the operating button part 305.

A non-limiting exemplary method of operating both vacuum and steam cleaning operations concurrently using the above-described exemplary embodiment of the present invention is explained as follows.

When a user commands to turn on the motor 130 and the heater unit 240 through the operating button part 305, the cleaner starts vacuuming and steam cleaning. For vacuum cleaning, the driving shaft 131 of the motor 130 rotates, thereby driving the drum brush 125, the impeller 135 and the rotating unit 160 concurrently. Referring to FIG. 12, the drum brush 125 rotates so that the cleaning ribs 126 contact an object being cleaned to move the dust D to the proximity of the inlet 141 of the first passage 143. The dust D is suctioned through the inlet 141 due to the suction force generated from the rotating impeller 135, guided through the first passage 143, and enters into the suction hole 136 of the impeller 135. Dust is separated in the impeller 135 by the centrifugal force created therein, discharged through the discharge openings 139 a and 139 b, guided through the second passage 145, and enters the dust receptacle 150 through the dust inlet 153. Because of the relatively short distance the dust must travel through passages 143, 144 and 145 to draw dust into the dust receptacle 150, less suction force is required to suction the dust, and, as a result, a low-power consuming AC motor 130 can be used without compromising the efficiency of the cleaner.

Referring to FIG. 10, for steam cleaning, the sheath heater (not illustrated) housed inside the heater unit 240 is heated, thereby heating and turning the water held in the heater unit 240 into steam. The steam is then emitted onto an object being cleaned through the steam emitting pipe 241 and the steam emitting holes (not illustrated) of the lower casing 120. The pair of floorcloth plates 161 a and 161 b are rotated in accordance with the driving of the rotating unit 160 to rotate the floorcloths 163 a and 163 b attached to the lower portion to wipe out the steam-heated object.

Referring to FIG. 13, the streams of emitted steam are blocked from moving toward the suction port 123 due to the presence of the partition rib 180. Because dust D is also blocked by the partition rib 180 from moving toward the steam while being brushed and moved to the inlet 141 by the drum brush 125, dust D is not mixed with the steam. Accordingly, the problem of dust D being moistened by the steam being emitted and sticking to the object being cleaned can be avoided.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention explained above, by using an AC motor 130 which consumes far less power than the suction motors used in the general steam vacuum cleaner and a large-sized heater unit 240 having higher efficiency and performance that consumes less power than the conventional applications, a better steam cleaning efficiency is provided with the same or reduced power consumption. Furthermore, because the large-sized heater unit 240 provides a large-sized steam emitting pipe 241, the steam emitting pipe 241 is less likely to be clogged by scale and deposits, thus making the cleaner usable for a longer period of time.

While certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A steam vacuum cleaner comprising: a suction port assembly comprising a dust receptacle formed therein and an impeller driven by a motor to draw in air and dust from an object being cleaned through a suction port formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and to discharge the suctioned air and dust into the dust receptacle; a main body comprising a water tank and a heater unit to receive water from the water tank and generate steam, wherein a lower portion of the main body is hinged to a portion of the suction port assembly; and a floorcloth plate formed on a lower portion of the suction port assembly and comprising at least one floorcloth attached thereto.
 2. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the heater unit consumes from about 1200 W to about 1900 W of power and the motor consumes from about 80 W to about 100 W of power.
 3. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the heater unit includes a sheath heater housed therein.
 4. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the heater unit is a large-capacity unit that holds from about 700 cc to about 900 cc of water therein.
 5. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the motor includes an AC motor.
 6. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the impeller is formed within a passage between the suction port and the dust receptacle.
 7. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 6, wherein the passage includes: a first passage in which a first end is formed adjacent to the suction port and a second end opposite to the first end is formed adjacent to the impeller; an impeller casing part surrounding the impeller, the impeller casing part being in fluid communication with the second end of the first passage; and a second passage in which a first end is in fluid communication with the impeller casing part and a second end opposite to the first end is in fluid communication with the dust receptacle.
 8. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 7, further including a drum brush rotatably disposed in the suction port, the drum brush receiving a driving force from the motor and moving the dust of the object being cleaned to the first end of the first passage.
 9. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further including a partition member engaged with a lower portion of the suction port assembly to divide a space defined between the lower portion of the suction port assembly and the surface being cleaned into a vacuum cleaning area and a steam cleaning area so that dust being drawn in through the suction port at a lower front portion of the suction port is not mixed with steam being emitted from a lower rear portion of the suction port assembly.
 10. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further comprising a rotating unit arranged inside the suction port assembly to rotate the floorcloth plate.
 11. The steam vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further comprising an operating handle comprising a stick part to slide into the main body or slide out of the main body along the length direction of the main body. 